


a rep to protect (or not)

by helsinkibaby



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Community: comment_fic, F/M, Het, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 04:58:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4046935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maria knows she has a reputation as an ice queen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a rep to protect (or not)

**Author's Note:**

> Theme: red  
> Prompt: any, any, blushing

Maria knows she has a reputation as an ice queen, and she doesn't mind at all. She's worked very hard on that reputation, she's earned it, she glories in it. She works hard, she does her job, doesn't joke around, doesn't crack a smile. She's a soldier, one who happens to be a woman, sure, but she can shoot just as well, fight just as hard as any man and she makes sure that people know it. 

Part of that reputation? 

No romantic entanglements with people on the job. Which she thinks is a damn good rule for life in general, never mind SHIELD agents, never mind Avengers, people who have the literal fate of the world in their hands, who need to be concentrating on those important matters, rather than matters of the heart. 

She's proud of her reputation. 

And yet. 

One day she finds herself standing in the middle of the new headquarters and War Machine lands in front of her, soft as the whisper of his breath against her lips the previous night. His helmet shifts, disappears to expose his face and he doesn't smile, simply nods as best as the apparatus allows. 

"Ma'am," he says, voice steady, like he hasn't spent most of his recent nights muttering her real name in tones ranging from seductive to aroused to ecstatic. 

"Commander." She nods, says the word like she hasn't been doing the exact same thing. 

She steps past him, shifts her tablet in her arms and continues on her way. 

Just as she gets to the door, she turns, glances behind her. He's staring at her as she walks away and if his face is neutral, his eyes are anything but.

She bites her lip as she looks down, feels a blush coating her cheeks and she hopes that no-one saw them because they surely wouldn't have fooled anyone. 

She blushes again later when her cell phone chimes with a text message and in it, he lets her know exactly what he thought of the view as she walked away. 

She knows she has a reputation to maintain, but suddenly tarnishing it seems like a lot of fun. 


End file.
